What is Yokai?
Yokai is a Noongar call to action – enough is enough!
The West Australian Stolen Generations Aboriginal Corporation, Trading as YOKAI Healing our spirit evolved from needs voiced and prioritised by delegates at the inaugural State Convention of WA Stolen Generations Survivors held in 2013 in Perth. At the State Convention, the core themes of truth, justice and healing mirrored those of the Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families (also known as the Bringing Them Home Report). Please insert report link
In 1997, the Australian Human Rights Commission released the BTH Report, publicly acknowledging the enormity of the harms caused by the state condoned, forced removal of Aboriginal children from their families between 1910 and the 1970s, as a result of racist assimilationist policies.
The Commission called it GENOCIDE.
The Report has 54 recommendations for enabling healing for Stolen Generations survivors and the wider community. We follow those recommendations. The impact of generations of forced child removal in WA and to a lesser extent the rest of Australia (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2021) is now publicly and internationally recognised as part of Australia’s Genocide. We have substantiated this in our film, Genocide in the Wildflower State released in 2024. By international laws which Australia has been signatory to for over 70 years, the crime of genocide is the most serious violation of human rights and must be followed by compensation.
Western Australia and Queensland are the only States yet (2023) to provide compensation which allows healing based on cultural and trauma informed ways in human services provision. At the State Convention there was a deep sadness that many Stolen Generations people would continue to perish before healing for themselves and their families became a reality.
This body eventually became the Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation WASGAC after 3 years of auspicing by Bringing Them Home WA Inc. This charitable Aboriginal community- controlled organisation was established for supporting the needs of individuals and families adversely affected by the assimilationist, eugenicist and genocidal policies and practices of forcibly denying Aboriginal people their families, communities, country and culture.
Our approach is based on real outcomes for the Aboriginal Community and will deliver long-term cost efficiencies for government in terms of human services delivery.
